Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

WATCH: Oatcake World Champions crowned at north-east food and drink festival

The World’s Oatcake Champions have finally been revealed at a north-east food event.

Shetlander Johnnie Wiseman, who now lives in Insch in Aberdeenshire, and Norma Breathet from the outskirts of Ardersier in the Highlands both took home the crown in their respective categories.

Johnnie, 79, won the trophy for the traditional category while Norma, 54, claimed the title in the wildcard category.

Both competitors saw off fierce competition at the event which was part of Tarland Food and Music Festival’s line-up.

Wildcard winner Norma Breathet.

A total of 25 individuals battled it out to impress head chef of Douneside House and oatcake judge, Matt Price, with their baked goodies. There were 13 entries submitted for traditional and 12 for the wildcard.

He judged both categories which saw an array of flavours be entered, including black olive, Irn-Bru and ginger, parmesan and paprika, Stornoway oatcakes, oatcakes with musical note designs called “chillie notecakes” and more.

The judging process started at 9am and it wasn’t until 11am, when every oatcake had been sampled, that the winners were announced.

Free to enter, individuals from across the north-east and further afield travelled to the event, which saw hundreds descend upon the village, with the hopes of being crowned World Oatcake Champion at the two-day event.

Some of the oatcake entries.

The traditional category was judged on a basic recipe which usually consists of oatmeal, lard/dripping/water/milk and bicarbonate soda.

The wildcard could be any flavour, and there were no size or shape regulations with circular, square or triangular all welcome.

Batch sizes were also varied depending on how big or small the oatcakes are, but a minimum of four was recommended.

Best oatcakes

Johnnie Wiseman said the secret ingredients to his traditional oatcake is good-quality oatmeal, good-quality butter, and a nice, even oven where you can keep an eye on them.

He said: “I feel great about winning. It is absolutely amazing – I didn’t expect to win. Mrs Wiseman will be dancing in the street.

Head chef of Douneside House, Matt Price judging the oatcakes.

“My family will be delighted. I always tell them I make the best oatcakes, and now I know I do!

“It takes me around 45 to 50 minutes to make and bake them and when I saw the story in the paper I had to enter. It is nice to confirm they are good.”

Johnnie Wiseman with his winning oatcakes and trophy.

Sweet oatcake onto a winner

And while fellow competitor and wildcard winner Norma Breathet has entered a few other local competitions and won accolades for her traditional oatcakes, it was her unique sweet ones which tickled Matt’s tastebuds and secured her the crown.

Creating an oatcake with dried raspberries, white chocolate, some honey, cinnamon and a small drop of demerara sugar on top, Norma is delighted with her wildcard win.

She added: “I love making oatcakes. My dad has always liked them and I have always really made them for him. He was my inspiration to start making them years ago.

“There was so many different ones on the table – I didn’t expect mine to win. I thought a sweet one would be different and I wanted to challenge myself.

“I practiced a few times as I needed to get the right thickness and for it not to be gooey. I managed to get it to the right consistency and decided to enter it.

“I’ve been having a try at it and I’ve entered a few of the local farm shows and I’ve had a few wins for my traditional one but it is good to get a sweet one!”


For more food and drink news…